The Kaiserpreis (German : Emperor's Prize) auto race, named after Emperor Wilhelm II, was held in 1907. Like his brother's Prinz-Heinrich-Fahrt held from 1908 to 1911, it was a precursor to the German Grand Prix.
As Camille Jenatzy had won the Gordon Bennett Cup in auto racing in 1903 with a Mercedes, Germany had to stage the 1904 event. A 117 km (73 mi) long track in the Taunus mountains was selected, from Oberursel to Weilburg and back. The Cup was won by Léon Théry in a Richard-Brasier, and the Gordon Bennett race returned to France for 1905 and 1906, but was not continued as such in 1907, as Grand Prix motor racing evolved.
On the same track as the Gordon Bennett three years earlier, Germany staged its second large international event in 1907, the Kaiserpreis auto race (after sailing and rowing events were also named so). Entries were limited to touring cars with engines of less than eight litres. The race was won by Italian Felice Nazzaro in a Fiat 130 HP, against competition from Opel, Mercedes, Eisenach, Adler and others.
In 1908, the Prinz-Heinrich-Fahrt resumed until 1911.
See 1907 Kaiserpreis.
The Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße, known as AVUS, is a public road in Berlin, Germany. Opened in 1921,, it also was used as a motor racing circuit until 1998. Today, the AVUS forms the northern part of the Bundesautobahn 115.
The United States Grand Prix is a motor racing event that has been held on and off since 1908, when it was known as the American Grand Prize. The Grand Prix later became part of the Formula One World Championship. As of 2023, the Grand Prix has been held 52 times at ten different locations. Since 2012, it has been held every year at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, except in 2020 when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The French Grand Prix, formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF, is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championship. It is one of the oldest motor races in the world as well as the first "Grand Prix". It ceased, shortly after its centenary, in 2008 with 86 races having been held, due to unfavourable financial circumstances and venues. The race returned to the Formula One calendar in 2018 with Circuit Paul Ricard hosting the race, but was removed from the calendar after 2022.
Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition, has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as early as 1894. It quickly evolved from simple road races from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver. Innovation and the drive of competition soon saw speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), but because early races took place on open roads, accidents occurred frequently, resulting in deaths both of drivers and of spectators. A common abbreviation used for Grand Prix racing is "GP" or "GP racing".
The German Grand Prix was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history: the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg and occasionally AVUS in Berlin. The race continued to be known as the German Grand Prix, even through the era when the race was held in West Germany.
Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. The objective is to complete a predetermined number of circuit laps in the least amount of time, or to accumulate the most circuit laps within a predetermined time period. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on public roads. However, public safety concerns eventually led to most races being held on purpose-built racing circuits.
In automobile racing, the Gordon Bennett Cup was an annual competition which ran from 1900 to 1905. It was one of three Gordon Bennett Cups established by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., millionaire owner of the New York Herald.
Ferenc Szisz, was a Hungarian racing driver and the winner of the first Grand Prix motor racing event on a Renault AK 90CV on 26 June, 1906.
The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing.
Felice Nazzaro was an Italian racecar driver, a native of Turin. He won the Kaiserpreis in 1907 as well as the French Grand Prix in 1907 and 1922 and Targa Florio in 1907, and 1913. His European wins in 1907 resulted in an invitation to compete in the 1908 American Grand Prize in Savannah, Georgia, where he finished third. He returned to the United States for the 1910 event but a damaged rear axle forced him out of the race. It was his victory in the 1908 Circuito di Bologna that inspired a young Enzo Ferrari to become a racing driver.
Victor Théodore Eugène Hémery was a French racing driver. He was the winner of the Vanderbilt Cup in 1905.
The Prinz-Heinrich-Fahrt, named after Prince Albert Wilhelm Heinrich of Prussia, was a motorcar contest held from 1908 to 1911 and a precursor to the German Grand Prix. The brother of Emperor Wilhelm II, who had staged a Kaiserpreis for motorcars in 1907, was a motoring enthusiast and inventor.
The 1906 Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France, commonly known as the 1906 French Grand Prix, was a motor race held on 26 and 27 June 1906, on closed public roads outside the city of Le Mans. The Grand Prix was organised by the Automobile Club de France (ACF) at the prompting of the French automobile industry as an alternative to the Gordon Bennett races, which limited each competing country's number of entries regardless of the size of its industry. France had the largest automobile industry in Europe at the time, and in an attempt to better reflect this the Grand Prix had no limit to the number of entries by any particular country. The ACF chose a 103.18-kilometre (64.11 mi) circuit, composed primarily of dust roads sealed with tar, which would be lapped six times on both days by each competitor, a combined race distance of 1,238.16 kilometres (769.36 mi). Lasting for more than 12 hours overall, the race was won by Ferenc Szisz driving for the Renault team. FIAT driver Felice Nazzaro finished second, and Albert Clément was third in a Clément-Bayard.
Louis Auguste Wagner was a French racing driver who won the American Grand Prize and the inaugural British Grand Prix. Wagner was also a pioneer aviator.
The 1906 Grand Prix season is regarded as the first Grand Prix racing season. It marked the advent of two iconic races: The French Grand Prix and the Targa Florio.
The 1907 Grand Prix season was the second Grand Prix racing season. It saw a blossoming of circuit events, with the shift from the inter-city races. The popularity of the inaugural French Grand Prix and Targa Florio saw those events held again. The new Kaiserpreis was the first major motor-race held in Germany. This year also saw a number of voiturette races as the number of specialist small-engine cars grew which gave close, exciting racing very popular with spectators.
Léon Théry was a French racing driver, nicknamed "Le Chronometer", who won the premier European race, the Gordon Bennett Cup, in both 1904 and 1905.
This article gives a general overview of motorsport in Italy. For a more exhaustive view see; Motorsport in Italy by decade and Motorsport in Italy by year. Motorsport is widely popular in Italy, and its history spans over a century back to the early 1900s. Today, Italy is considered a hub of motorsport in terms of racing venues, drivers, teams, and manufacturers. It hosts annual races across Formula One, MotoGP, the World Touring Car Cup, and other prominent motor racing series.
Carl Jörns was a German race car driver.